The use of specialized fabrics in the sporting and garment related industries is a common practice. The demands of contemporary sports, professions, rigorous lifestyles, and the like on conventional fabrics render them unsuitable for a variety of reasons, including the challenges associated with configuring the fabrics to adapt to internal and external environmental needs. Specialized fabrics have been developed to withstand such rigors. These fabrics often exhibit greater strength, better ventilation, climate control and tear prevention characteristics.
Ripstop fabric is one such specialized fabric. Ripstop is a woven material that resists tearing and ripping due to its crosshatched threading. In the outdoor sporting industry, ripstop fabric is commonly used for camping equipment, parachutes, hang gliders, hot air balloons, sails, kites, flags, banners and clothing, including sports clothing and military and firefighting clothing. Ripstop fabric is made by weaving nylon threads throughout a base material in interlocking patterns. As these materials tend to “rip” easily, the nylon ripstop fibers prevent the tearing of the base material beyond the crosshatches of the ripstop fabric.
Ripstop also describes a method of modifying the warp and weft of a fabric to enable it to contain any rips or tear. The warp is the tightly stretched lengthwise core of a fabric, while the weft is woven between the warp threads to create various patterns. In the event of a rip, small squares contain the rip and stop it from spreading along the length of the fabric. Ripstop and other specialized fabrics have been the subject of numerous patents and patent applications.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0086798 to Allen et al. describes a simulated ripstop fabric. The simulated ripstop fabric includes a plurality of body yarns that form a body of the fabric, and a plurality of pseudo ripstop yarns provided within the fabric in a grid pattern in which several body yarns are placed between each consecutive pseudo ripstop yarn in both the warp and filling directions of the fabric. The grid pattern forms a plurality of squares.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0179539 to Harber describes garments that include targeted venting zones that assist in cooling the wearer. The garments include a first fabric panel and a pattern of openings defined in the first fabric panel, in which the pattern is defined based on a thermal profile of a body, and the thermal profile distinguishes between areas of the body having different thermal characteristics. The thermal profile defines a first area of the body having a first thermal characteristic and a second area of the body having a second thermal characteristic, and the pattern of openings will define locations for plural openings of a first size corresponding to the first area and locations for plural openings of a second size corresponding to the second area.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0068155 to Rock et al. describes a fabric article with knitted or woven construction of multi-filament, interlaced yarns that has an inner surface and an outer surface. The inner surface has at least one region of pile or raised fibers or fleece formed thereupon and the outer surface has at least one region of a non-continuous coating of binder material adhered to yarns and to yarn fibers, such as at least at interlacing intersections, for enhanced durability of the outer surface against pilling or fraying during use.
One problem with conventional ways of using fabrics in making garments is the inability to achieve the versatility available with multi-fabric compositions with single fabric. For example, a jacket may need different fabric strength and breathability for different body sections, such as, shoulder, sleeve, armpit, etc. In this regard, a garment is usually made of multiple fabrics to achieve desired breathability, thermal characteristics, and the like for different parts of the garment. Therefore, despite the advancements in making fabrics and garments, there still exists a need for versatile fabrics with varying strength and breathability woven in a single fabric without sacrificing quality or comfort to meet the current and evolving demands of high performance fabrics in the recreational and professional sporting and garment industries.